
Its global expansion journey started in the late 1980s when Muji participated in an exhibition of Japanese products in London.
#Muji notebooks full
In a marketplace full of brands screaming for attention from consumers through both online and offline advertisements, Muji (full name: Mujirushi Ryohin) can be translated to “no brand quality goods”. The company’s persistent non-branding effectively became its unique identity. In 2001, when car companies were rushing to produce the fanciest cars and marketing them as the coolest cars, Muji partnered with Nissan to launch the 2001 Muji Car 1000 – essentially a Nissan K11 March with no branding, no paintjob, in the absolute basic specifications available. Its philosophy of simplicity and universality has indeed seen the company through its entire 40-year history. While it was popular at the time to buy a brand-name product regardless of its practicality, Muji had foreseen that a growing segment of the population placed a premium on functionality, affordability and quality over marketing hype, inflated price tags, and status symbols. Muji’s generic, brand-less and anonymous products were a statement against the excessive labeling and high price tags accompanying luxury goods. Japanese consumers were willing to pay high prices for branded products, and their love of brands sparked the emergence of a mass-luxury market where owning expensive, exclusive products seemed essential rather than aspirational.

When the company launched in 1980, Japan was very brand conscious. Today, it is almost impossible to identify a category leader that does not also embody a certain personality in the marketplace.

In addition to that, a strong brand management practice needs to be in place. To succeed in the marketplace today, it is not only mandatory for companies to offer high quality products. Since the 1950s when brands were born in the age of modern marketing, companies have tried to differentiate themselves from their competitors through branding and identity creation.

Muji is obsessed with minimalism, reflected in all its brand elements which embody “‘Less is More”. The brand’s relentless focus is on the product and does away with any unnecessary decoration or ornamentation. Muji is most well-known for its philosophy of functional, quality design with a Japanese minimalistic aesthetic, offered at a reasonable price. Founded in 1980, Muji is a global Japanese retail company selling a wide variety of household consumer items, furniture, clothing, and food products. In today’s marketplace full of brands screaming for attention, Muji represents the antithesis of consumerism.
